I am seriously struggling with this wipe. I took a bit of a break at the start of the last wipe and didn't play much and I came back about a month ago. I've been playing fairly consistently and I still have not hit level 20. Every single raid I do just about I get one tapped by M62, head eyes'd with M80 or ratted from a dark corner of some rarely travelled area of the map.
I'm okay with the flea and good ammo etc been locked behind quests and levels but for new / returning players jumping in mid wipe it's just an endless frustration fest. I don't have access to any armour or ammo that can compete with what most players are running around with currently. There surely needs to be some middle ground.
And before all the 'git gud' replies come in, I'm perfectly fine with dying – it's part of the game. But been practically stuck at low levels for months isn't really fun at all tbh.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EscapefromTarkov/comments/tt3kx5/every_raid_is_pushing_me_further_away/